racing and safety Report From The Hawk @ Road America

[NeueKlasseGuy]

We had a great weekend in Elkhart Lake. It was very hot and muggy Thursday and Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were perfect. I was gridded in Group 2, which was made up of small bore production cars and sedans.

 

The car ran flawlessly all weekend, which serves as a testament to Racecraft's preparation. We had only 2 minor problems. The first involved a disappearing spacer in the distributor which was allowing the shaft to ride up on the drive gear. This was changing the timing significantly, and was raising heck with the cap and rotor. Jim and Terry carry spares so that was quickly corrected. 

 

The second was a broken lead to the starter solenoid. Again a quick fix and the car was ready to race.

 

This was my first time driving the track. And what a track- very high speed, and rewarding smoothness and precision. I was able to improve my times each session. My best time of the weekend was a 2:45.4, which translates into about an 88 mph lap average. According to the tac we were hitting right at a buck and a quarter down the back straight. That's a strong M10!

 

The race on Sunday was a great deal of fun. I battled Vic Skirmants in his 356 thru the entire race. Believe it or not, I was quite a bit quicker down the straight, but he was significantly better under brakes and through a couple of critical corners, especially the kink. We swapped 4th and 5th 5-6 times during the 8 lap race, and we were never more than 1-2 seconds apart. On the last lap he was leading going into the carousel and we encountered lapped traffic. He squirted by, and I got held up through the Kink and he got away enough that I couldn't catch him going up the hill to start/finish.

 

I finished 5th out of 42 cars, 2nd in BS.

 

I'm pretty pleased with the results, and hope to go back soon. I will have video up in a few days.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2013 by NeueKlasseGuy

[skipsfcr]

Steve, here's a brief video (phone) clip from your Sunday race, jockeying for position with the 356...What a 2002! Tried to find you in the paddock but never could!? And we COMBED the place. The two Heritage Motorsports cars and One of the Gesse Racing '02s are also featured in the clip.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ororhu5rboj3p7g/JAfC9m_CI5

 

Got a couple of decent photos too. I'll post them when I get a chance.

Edited July 25, 2013 by skipsfcr

[NeueKlasseGuy]

Skip,

 

Thanks for the reply and the video post. Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet. We were paddocked down by the gas pumps behind two large semi's. Maybe next year?

 

Steve

 

[73colorado02]

Great job and awesome car.  I was the guy in the Black hawk performance shirt that came by on sunday.  Great looking car and wish I wasn't busy with our cars to have seen your race.  Hope to see you there next year.

[NeueKlasseGuy]

The first video from practice is available at:

 

 

 

[gliding_serpent2]

Well done.  Great car and great track. 

[skipsfcr]

Excellent video...too cool!

[NeueKlasseGuy]

Video from Sunday's race is up:

 

[ndog]

i wish i could learn that smooth steering /brake/throttle inputs =fastlaps

[Conway]

Totally awesome!